Which Operation is the Most Common?

QUESTION: Like two teenagers sharing personal secrets, my girl friend and I
were comparing our experiences with recent surgery. She had a gall bladder
removed and I had a hysterectomy. A discussion developed and we now have a
bet going as to which operation is the most common operation performed in the
United States. Can you provide us with the answer?
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ANSWER: I would be glad to. Of the two operations you mention, and according
to the statistics provided by the Commission on Professional and Hospital
Activities of the American College of Surgeons, cholecystectomy ranks before
abdominal hysterectomy, at least in the 1986 statistics which are currently
available. Now that would make your girl friend the winner, unless you bet
on the most frequently performed procedure of all operations, in which case
you both lose, as the most frequently performed surgery is the cervical
cesarean section, which ranks first, with a total of 820,960 operations
reported. Gall bladder removal ranked second with 534,767, and hysterectomy
third, with 468,022. If your personal experiences match the statistics, your
friend stayed in the hospital longer than you did, as cholecystectomies
average a stay of 7.9 days, compared to 5.9 days for hysterectomies. The next
three, of the top six, in rank order, are number 4; left cardiac
catheterization, number 5; transurethral prostatectomy (partial removal of the
prostate gland through the urinary passage), and in sixth place appendectomy.